Talking Points:

Though the daily bleed has stopped and bears are stretched, it is still an ongoing 6-week and 30% drop

See how retail traders are positioned in US oil, UK oil, stocks and other assets on the sentiment page

Technical Forecast for US Dollar: Bullish

US crude oil finally staunched the bleeding this past week. We entered the period extending an extraordinarily consistent string of daily losses for the commodity. That bearish run was finally capped at 12 consecutive days – a record that will likely stand for years, if not decades – with Wednesday’s bullish close. Yet, this change in tack really doesn’t register as the onrush of speculative appetite looking to take advantage of a severely devalued asset as one would expect. Tuesday’s loss could be described as the forming of a ‘panic low’. The extreme 6 percent loss on the day was the most painful the market had suffered since February of 2016. Such a move could significantly exercise much of the weakened bullish hands and encourage shorts to book profit – as